Hari-hari Kami ^_^

Our Baby

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Have you wondered who is Rufaidah really?Err...well...this is not an entry about the blog owner. I have no intention to talk about myself today. I want to share this with those who might not know Rufaidah.

Once upon a time I used to feel weird having this name because "Rufaidah" is such a rare name. So a few years ago I asked mama where did she get this name...mama said that when she was pregnant with me, mama stumbled upon this name whilst reading a sirah book. Out of curiosity, I googled my own name and I felt proud to know that mama named me after a great muslimah. Although I might not be able to fulfilled mama's wish for me to be a doctor/nurse, I hope that I may follow her with her kind and empathetic personality. After all the meaning of Rufaidah is "anak kecil yang memberi dengan membantu".

Rufaidah bint Sa'ad, is recognized as the first Muslim nurse. Her full name was Rufaidah bint Sa'ad of the Bani Aslam tribe of the Khazraj tribal confederation in Madinah. She was born in Yathrib before the migration of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). She was among the first people in Madina to accept Islam and was one of the Ansar women who welcomed the Prophet on arrival in Madina.

Rufaidah's father was a physician. She learned medical care by working as his assistant. Her history illustrates all the attributes expected of a good nurse. She was kind and empathetic. She was a capable leader and organizer, able to mobilize and get others to produce good work. She had clinical skills that she shared with the other nurses whom she trained and worked with. She did not confine her nursing to the clinical situation. She went out to the community and tried to solve the social problems that lead to disease. She was both a public health nurse and a social worker.

When the Islamic state was well established in Madina, Rufaidah devoted herself to nursing the Muslim sick. In peace time she set up a tent outside the Prophet's mosque in Madina where she nursed the sick. During war she led groups of volunteer nurses who went to the battlefield and treated the casualties. She participated in the battles of Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, Khaibar, and others. Rufaidah's field hospital tent became very famous during the battles and the Prophet used to direct that the casualties be carried to her.

At the battle of the trench (ghazwat al khandaq), Rufaidah set up her hospital tent at the battlefield. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) instructed that Sa'ad bin Ma'adh who had been injured in battle be moved to the tent. Rufaidah nursed him, carefully removed the arrow from his forearm and achieved homeostasis. The prophet visited Sa'ad in the hospital tent several times a day. Sa'ad was to die later at the battle of Bani Quraidhat.

Rufaidah had trained a group of women companions as nurses. When the Prophet's army was getting ready to go to the battle of Khaibar, Rufaidah and the group of volunteer nurses went to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). They asked him for permission "Oh messenger of Allah, we want to go out with you to the battle and treat the injured and help Muslims as much as we can". The Prophet gave them permission to go. The nurse volunteers did such a good job that the Prophet assigned a share of the booty to Rufaidah. Her share was equivalent to that of soldiers who had actually fought. This was in recognition of her medical and nursing work.

Rufaidah's contribution was not confined only to nursing the injured. She was involved in social work in the community. She came to the assistance of every Muslim in need: the poor, the orphans, or the handicapped. She looked after the orphans, nursed them, and taught them.

Rufaidah had a kind and empathetic personality that soothed the patients in addition to the medical care that she provided. The human touch is a very important aspect of nursing that is unfortunately being forgotten as the balance between the human touch and technology in nursing is increasingly tilted in favor of technology.

History has recorded names of women who worked with Rufaidah: Umm Ammara, Aminah, Umm Ayman, Safiyat, Umm Sulaim, and Hind. Other Muslim women who were famous as nurses were: Ku'ayibat, Aminah bint Abi Qays al Ghifariyat, Umm 'Atiyyah al Ansariyat, and Nusaibat bint Ka'ab al Maziniyyat.

Monday, December 7, 2009

It's been some time...Been not so busy and then very busy since the holidays started.The holiday started on 26th Nov and the new semester will commence on 25th Jan 2010 (cuti 2 bulan tu!).

The first few days at home were pretty much normal with the usual back-at-home routine (i.e: qadha' tidur, kemas beg, kemas bilik, kemas almari). Managed to bake the infamous (ye ke? hehe..) moist chocolate cake on the evening of 10 Zulhijjah (did not manage to bake it the night before because I was so tired once I'm done with unloading the bags from the car, into the house and then up to my room) and then the next two days managed to finish reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. This book taught me a lot about family relationships and sacrifice. I would fully recommend you to read it!

Then it got pretty boring with me being so lazy to do anything else except lounging around reading Reader's Digest, surfing the net, watching tv (althought there're not that many interesting programmes to watch), a few house chores and so on. On Thursday (3rd December) I got quite excited packing. What for? Well...I was on my way then to KISDAR in Kuala Kangsar to help out with PPWN (Perhimpunan Perwakilan Wanita Nasional ke-16) and PPN (Perhimpunan Perwakilan Nasional ke-19) as JIM Perak is the host for this year. Then life became very hectic and tiring for the past 4 days. But it was great I tell you...GREAT with capitals! Got to meet-up with the sisters who're doing practical right now (miss them lots!), mu'ayashah with the KPM sisters, learning many things from the pakcik makcik and also meeting those makciks which I have not seen since I was a little girl. It's kinda funny to hear your kindergarten teacher saying stuff like "dah besar dah rufaidah sekarang ni.." and also makcik2 with their "dulu kecik2 makcik dukung rufaidah ni..besar2 ni je (whilst pointing to her 3-year old daughter)...sama2 main dgn anak2 makcik lain time tgh usrah".

I was with JK Keselamatan under Pakcik Salim and Kak Tah. It's an interesting experience being security (plus 1001 other adhoc tasks we had to do) but it feels nice when pakcik makcik acknowledge Karisma's help with PPN. We felt that we're welcomed with open arms among them. This is exactly what's meant with the phrase "hikmatus syuyukh wa hamasatus syabab" (kebijaksanaan orang tua dan semangat orang muda) I have often heard and again repeated by Dr Har (mantan Ketua Wanita JIM for 10 years running and Naib Presiden JIM 2009-2011) in her Ucapan Dasar. I can truly see that those trio from Medtech (Khairuddin, Syazwan and Adib) really does make a difference when they were with JK Media PPN. Bak kata seorang kakak, "Boleh nampak la style medtech tu..smart2" hehe.

It does boost-up the spirit of us (the Gen-Y) to see those pakcik makcik who have been on this path for 20-30 years maybe. I know it's not easy to stay steadfast on this path. Many times we've heard that the challenge as a student is nothing much compared to when you have a career, married with children and other commitments. When you are in that situation and you're still active with tarbiyah and da'wah, then that is something to look-up to. The challenges we're facing today as a student is nothing much and if we can't juggle our responsibilities and manage our time now...we'll never be able to do so in the future with responsibilities double as much and much less time. Makcik Nor made me teary-eyed when she said: "Hebat la jemaah kan? boleh kumpul balik semua dulu yang kecik2...skrg dh besar2...kumpul sama2 dengan pakcik makcik yg dh lame2 ni" << more or less so, it was in Terengganu dialect. She was saying this after pointing out how many of us who are so little when our mums were having usrah together once upon a time are now together in the same hall.

This is why I like going to PPN (or other programmes with pakcik makcik for that matter). I might not totally understand what's being discussed yet, but it's the semangat juang from them that I envy, that I want to instill in myself for the future. Ya muqallibal quluub, tsabbit quluubana 'ala deenik. I have learnt a lot from the past few days and I will always treasure it. Experiences are truly the best teacher.

Hurmm..so what's next?InsyaAllah on Wednesday we might be going to KL because Ayah is having some sort of a conference there (Kak Hannan, jom date kt KLCC :D). This weekend I might be helping out with qiam KRJ. Then on 20th December, there will be Makcik Faezah's and Pakcik Selamat's kenduri for their son, Harith, to attend to before going to Kedah for a small family trip from 21st t 24th December. After that I will be in PJ for PKN (Perhimpunan Karisma Nasional) from 25th until 26th December. Might stay for one more day to jalan2 ke rumah Kak Filzah or Kak Hannan. Then I will have one more month of holiday (that is if I don't get to be MAS facee for Jan 2010). We'll see what will the plan be then.

Sorry for the long post without pictures.Can't be bothered with finding appropriate images to include..hehe.Maybe there'll be a picture post once I got our pictures during PPN (especially of JK Keselamatan in that nice blue batik blouse :D).

Until then..wassalamu'alaykum wrm.

along: just realised that even though the title is in malay, the entry is pretty much fully-english =P